This 2002 photo shows the Mackinac Bridge that spans the Straits of Mackinac from Mackinaw City. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered Canadian energy company Enbridge last fall to shut down Line 5 — a key piece of a crude delivery network from Alberta’s oil fields to refineries in the midwestern U.S. and eastern Canada. A section roughly four miles long crosses the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connects lakes Michigan and Huron. (AP photo)

By Journal Staff

ST. IGNACE.– The cost of a commercial vehical traversing the Mighty Mack is on the rise.

To recoup the labor and equipment costs of providing escorts to oversize commercial vehicles crossing the Mackinac Bridge, the Mackinac Bridge Authority today approved a new $100 fee for providing that service starting next year.

According to an MBA statement released on Friday, the new fees, to be charged for escorting heavy, overwidth and overlength vehicles, will be charged beginning Jan. 29. The Authority approved the new fee at its meeting today in Traverse City.

The MBA classifies oversize loads to include commercial vehicles that weigh in excess of 80,000 pounds, are wider than 10 feet, or longer than 90 feet.

Review of average staff time, vehicle use, administrative costs, and necessary software upgrades, the Authority determined that a fee of $100 per vehicle would cover MBA expenses to provide the service. According to the authority, about 1,700 oversize commercial vehicles cross the bridge each year.